We make people places.

Bunche Park Elementary School

Miami, FL

Zyscovich designed the District’s newest prototypical “micro-school” utilizing a Small Schools by Design (SSD) framework. The modular, two-story prototype responds efficiently to the requirements of its intended compact, urban sites, as well as to the educational challenges faced by urban community schools. The micro-schools’ size positively affects staffing and operations by providing a more intimate educational setting, facilitating more personal relationships between students and teachers and increasing parental involvement. It also allows greater administrative responsiveness to community needs, as modular “plug-in” program spaces can be added as needed.

The Bunche Park Elementary project involved the phased replacement of an existing PK-5 school located in a residential area on an occupied, eight-acre urban site. The existing school and portables remained occupied while the replacement school was constructed. After students moved into the new facility, all existing buildings were demolished. The school was designed in conjunction with community partners to provide services that were lacking within the surrounding neighborhood; for example, at Bunche Park, the 39,517 SF, 354-student station prototype was modified to accommodate an additional “plug-in” building for the school’s ESE program, which caters to autistic children, and the school’s “Learn to Swim” program was incorporated into the art lab. The prototype allowed for accelerated project delivery within a lean budget.

Traditional programmatic spaces were designed to promote 21st-century collaborative learning aimed at increasing attendance and achievement rates. Students produce daily broadcasts in the state-of-the-art closed-circuit telecast studio incorporated into the media center. The studio opens to an expanded circulation area, allowing passing students to witness the daily broadcasts. To maximize the space within the compact building footprint, the music room is elevated and has an operable partition that opens to the dining area, creating a flexible stage-like performance space while conserving square footage. The use of this flex-space was extended to the surrounding neighborhood for community events and adult education programs. The compact building footprint leaves room for enhanced outdoor areas that are shared with the neighborhood, that include a physical education shelter, a primary play area, hard courts, play fields and an expansive covered dining patio.

Zyscovich designed the District’s newest prototypical “micro-school” utilizing a Small Schools by Design (SSD) framework. The modular, two-story prototype responds efficiently to the requirements of its intended compact, urban sites, as well as to the educational challenges faced by urban community schools. The micro-schools’ size positively affects staffing and operations by providing a more intimate educational setting, facilitating more personal relationships between students and teachers and increasing parental involvement. It also allows greater administrative responsiveness to community needs, as modular “plug-in” program spaces can be added as needed.

The Bunche Park Elementary project involved the phased replacement of an existing PK-5 school located in a residential area on an occupied, eight-acre urban site. The existing school and portables remained occupied while the replacement school was constructed. After students moved into the new facility, all existing buildings were demolished. The school was designed in conjunction with community partners to provide services that were lacking within the surrounding neighborhood; for example, at Bunche Park, the 39,517 SF, 354-student station prototype was modified to accommodate an additional “plug-in” building for the school’s ESE program, which caters to autistic children, and the school’s “Learn to Swim” program was incorporated into the art lab. The prototype allowed for accelerated project delivery within a lean budget.

Traditional programmatic spaces were designed to promote 21st-century collaborative learning aimed at increasing attendance and achievement rates. Students produce daily broadcasts in the state-of-the-art closed-circuit telecast studio incorporated into the media center. The studio opens to an expanded circulation area, allowing passing students to witness the daily broadcasts. To maximize the space within the compact building footprint, the music room is elevated and has an operable partition that opens to the dining area, creating a flexible stage-like performance space while conserving square footage. The use of this flex-space was extended to the surrounding neighborhood for community events and adult education programs. The compact building footprint leaves room for enhanced outdoor areas that are shared with the neighborhood, that include a physical education shelter, a primary play area, hard courts, play fields and an expansive covered dining patio.